The Chesterton Speech team closed out its regular season by hosting its
annual Skeffington Memorial Speech Invitational this past weekend. Seven
teams and more than 150 students participated in the all varsity tournament.
CHS had 42 students place in the top eight in their respective events and
had four tournament champions.

Junior Mikaela Meyer was the tournament champion in declamation, freshman
Tim Vincent won international extemporaneous speaking, junior Nathan
Dickinson took top honors in broadcasting, and for the fourth consecutive
weekend senior Kiera Quealy won original performance. Meyer also placed
sixth in original oratory, Quealy was seventh in drama, and Vincent finished
second in impromptu. Vincent's performance as a freshman was certainly a
highlight for the team.

Once again the team finished very well in broadcasting. Following Dickinson
was senior Jadyn Beissel in second, freshman Sam Gordon in third, junior
Tyler Colvin in fifth, sophomore Andrew Jugovic in sixth, sophomore Bradley
Moore in seventh, and senior Christian O'Brien in eighth. Moore also placed
sixth in original performance.

Junior Layla Mooradian and senior Jennifer Kattalia each placed in three
events. Mooradian was second to Meyer in declamation, second in original
oratory and she and Kattalia were fourth in memorized duo. Kattalia also
placed third in drama and fifth in original oratory. Mooradian led the team
with sweepstakes points but as the host school CHS did not compete for a
team award.

Senior Aliyah Caraballo had two second place finishes, with a second in
drama and a second with her partner, junior Danny Vincent, in memorized duo.
Also in memorized duo, the senior team of Sharon Coleman and Kaylee Oates
placed sixth. Oates also placed fourth in humor. Junior Jami Ritchea was
fifth in humor and sixth in poetry, and sophomore Lauren Hogan was eighth in
humor.

Sophomore Kasey O'Keefe finished fourth in drama and fifth in prose, and
freshman Ellen Winski placed fourth in poetry and seventh in prose. In
addition, the scripted duo team of senior Rachel Kidder and junior Justyn
Lantz took second place, and Lantz finished eighth in poetry. Senior Anmol
Patel was sixth in declamation.

In domestic extemporaneous speaking juniors Humaira Khan and Jessica Ratel-Khan
were second and sixth, respectively, and in international extemporaneous
junior Andrew Caratini finished third and sophomore Andrea Drygas was
fourth. Caratini also placed third in impromptu speaking followed by Drygas
in sixth. Freshman Eric Richardson placed eighth in impromptu.

Finally, in what has become a very competitive event, senior Ronnie Kovach
placed fifth in discussion, followed by junior Zach Bogich in seventh.

"This was a good tune-up for next week's sectional tournament and the team
knows they will need to work hard to be competitive," said Coach Bob Kelly.

Munster High School won the tournament with 150 points and Valparaiso placed
second with 73 points. Elkhart Central was third with 43 points, followed by
LaPorte with 15 points and fifth place portage with 8 points.

The coaching staff was assisted by former students and numerous parents who
helped with judging and hospitality.